Candidates and city watchdog groups are accusing mayoral hopefuls of abusing what may be a loophole in a new Philadelphia campaign finance law.
The Philadelphia City Code prohibits most city candidates from accepting donations of more than $2,500 from individuals or $10,000 from political committees.
Yet only two of the seven potential mayoral candidates have limited the donations they receive to comply with the code, according to the Philadelphia city controller's campaign finance reports.
Those who have chosen not to restrict their donations argue that the campaign-finance law does not apply to them because they are not yet officially candidates.
"The congressman is abiding by the campaign-finance laws," said Solomon Jones, the communications director of the Chaka Fattah for Mayor Exploratory Committee.
Fattah represents Penn's district in U.S. Congress.
Less than 6 percent of the funds would fall within the limits of the code if Fattah were an official candidate, according to the reports.
Because this section of the code was added in 2003, the 2007 mayoral race will be the first under the new law.
City Solicitor Romulo Diaz has said that because the campaign-finance code does not define the term "candidate," it should be interpreted as someone who "has filed nomination papers or publicly announced his candidacy for office."
However, the Philadelphia watchdog group Committee of Seventy has argued that this interpretation of the law undermines its effect.
"Such an interpretation would permit unlimited contributions and opportunities for 'pay to play,'" said committee CEO Zach Stalberg in an open letter to Diaz. "This reasoning [could] limit this law's applicability to ... just three months of a nearly four-year cycle subject to contribution limits."
Councilman Michael Nutter, who is also eyeing the mayoral seat, is one of the two likely candidates already complying with the campaign finance code, the controller's reports indicate, even though he has not officially said he means to run.
"He was a member of the council that supported the effort and he supports the spirit" of campaign finance reform, said Nutter spokeswoman Julia Chapman.
The only other candidate currently abiding by the limits is Tom Knox, whose has received a reported $5,000,000 as of Jan. 1, according to the reports.
The bill's original sponsor, Councilman Wilson Goode, said he sees no problem with the current interpretation of the law.
"I don't believe there's a controversy," Goode said. "I chose not to define the term candidate within the original legislation because it's already defined by the Pennsylvania Election Code."
The Committee of Seventy said that the state election code defines a candidate as anyone who has received more than $250 in contributions, while Goode says the definition is simply a person who has filed nominating papers.
The Committee of Seventy is awaiting a response from the city solicitor, but Stalberg said he would be "surprised if we get the outcome we want."
The committee would likely pursue legal action against the solicitor or the candidates if they did not get a favorable response, but have not made specific plans yet, Stalberg said.
